


When you fall like a statue

by xxx_cat_xxx



Series: Whumping Peter Parker [8]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Fainting, Fluff and Humor, Forgetting to eat, Gen, Humor, Hurt Peter Parker, Hurt Steve Rogers, Hurt/Comfort, Irondad, Mission Fic, Parent Tony Stark, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Vomiting, Worried Tony Stark, spiderson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2019-04-15
Packaged: 2020-01-14 12:05:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18475867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xxx_cat_xxx/pseuds/xxx_cat_xxx
Summary: “I’m really, really sorry, but, could we maybe argue about this later?” Peter asks in a small voice. “Um, I'm not...feeling so great.”Tony spins around. Peter is visibly swaying on his feet, colour draining rapidly from his face.“Shit.” Tony is at his side in a few steps, grabbing him by the shoulders and guiding him down to sit on the ground. “Just what we need right now. What's wrong? Where did you get hit?”orWhen Cap and Spidey go 36 hours without eating while having overly heightened metabolisms.





	When you fall like a statue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Aaronna](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aaronna/gifts).



> A huge thank you to [whumphoarder](https://archiveofourown.org/users/whumphoarder/pseuds/whumphoarder) for beta-reading.

“I need a cheeseburger,” Tony announces the moment Steve opens the door of the temporary shelter. “A big, greasy cheeseburger, two litres of coffee, and a few months of vacation on the Virgin Islands.”

“Then you've come to the wrong place,” Steve replies in a tired voice while following Tony back inside. “The bots destroyed our food storage. Even the granola bars melted.” The supersoldier grins a little, but his face is gray from exhaustion. He looks even worse than Tony feels. 

“You good there, old man?”

“Yeah, just…” Steve raises his arms in a gesture of defeat, indicating the destruction around them of what was once the parking lot of an amusement park. 

The Doom Bots did their job thoroughly. Being outnumbered as they were, the team was forced to spread out, so Tony took the kid with him to hunt down the Bots at the other end of the district. It didn’t help that the bots chose to enter just after the Avengers had successfully defeated an invasion of relatively dumb but highly explosive frog-like beings from outer space. 

Tony stayed behind to supervise the clean-up while Steve did the same at the other end of town. That was more than a day ago, Tony realises with sudden clarity. No wonder Cap looked tired.

“Are _you_ okay?” Steve asks, eyeing the scratches and dents in the Iron Man armour.

Tony is reeling from exertion, every single joint aching. His right wrist is swollen to twice its normal size and there are more scratches and bruises on him than he wants to count (although Friday had counted them, much to his dismay). But truth is, he has seen much worse fights, and 36 hours without sleep is far from his personal record.

“Always, always,” he replies reassuringly.

Tony enters the shelter, just to stop dead upon seeing a familiar figure dressed in a red-and-blue spandex suit. 

The eyes of Peter’s mask go wide upon seeing Tony. “Oh, shit,” he mumbles.

Tony feels his face go tight. “ _What on earth_ are you doing here?” he demands.

“Uhm…” The mask retreats, revealing a clearly exhausted Peter looking sheepishly back at his mentor.

“He helped with the clean-up,” Steve intervenes. “Without him, I’d still be stuck in a heap of rubble, trying to excavate a police car.”

“I sent him home to sleep _yesterday_.”

“He told me that you had asked him to come here!”

“And you didn’t bother to check with me?” Tony exclaims angrily. “You know we _do_ have radios now, right? Modern communication, Cap, we’re not in the goddamn 1930s anymore!” 

He knows that it isn’t technically Steve's fault that Peter snuck back to the battlefield, but Tony’s worry and frustration are reaching a breaking point. And Captain Almighty had always been a good target to let off some steam.

“How was I to know he wasn’t supposed to be here? Honestly, I was glad for any help I could get -it didn’t occur to me I’d have to double-check!” Steve protests. 

“Uhm...I’m really, really sorry, but, could we maybe argue about this later?” Peter asks in a small voice. “Um, I'm not...feeling so great.”  


Tony spins around. The boy is visibly swaying on his feet, colour draining rapidly from his face.

“Shit.” Tony is at his side in a few steps, grabbing him by the shoulders and guiding him down to sit on the ground. “Just what we need right now. What's wrong? Where did you get hit?”

“Please don't be mad at me,” Peter whispers, blinking rapidly with unfocused eyes. He actually looks a little bit scared, which only increases Tony’s concern.

“That’s gonna be decided later,” Tony declares. “But I definitely will be if you don't tell me what's going on.”

“I...haven’t eaten anything...for a while, I think.” Peter starts listing to one side, his eyes drooping.

Tony curses quietly. He keeps Peter upright with one arm and waves at Steve with the other. “Check the back room for food,” he orders. “Bruce always keeps emergency supplies in his locker.”

“Hmm,” Steve replies, his voice strangely off. 

Peter’s eyes have drifted shut. “Hey, stay awake with me, kid,” Tony urges, tapping on the boy’s cheek. “Spangles?” he calls to the back room, “You found anything?”

The only reply is a loud thump. 

“What on earth…” Tony says under his breath. 

“Sir, it appears that Captain Rogers has lost consciousness,” FRIDAY’s voice informs him from his suit. Even she sounds beat. “It appears that he is suffering from hypoglycemia, similar to Mr. Parker.”

“How is this my life?” Tony mutters. “Call medical, I need a babysitter.”

“Already done, sir. Let me also inform you that the first aid kit located under the chair to your right contains glucose tablets.” 

“At least that’s something,” Tony mumbles, reaching for the kit. He spies a half-empty bottle of Coke on the ground and reaches for it gratefully.

“Hey, kid. Open up.” He nudges the bottle against Peter’s lips. It takes a few attempts until the boy focuses on Tony with a low moan.

“Don't wanna…don’t feel good,” Peter slurs.

“Yeah, nausea is normal at this point. But that wasn’t a question. Drink.” He lets Peter take a few sips before pushing one of the glucose tabs into his mouth.

Peter swallows, then gulps, his sweaty face contorting in obvious discomfort.“'M gonna be sick,” he manages.

“Okay, hold on,” Tony sighs. He locates a plastic bag in the mess inside the shelter and holds it open under Peter’s chin. The kid takes a few shallow breaths before retching weakly. He brings up a mouthful of foul-smelling liquid.

“Ugh…” Peter moans. He coughs a few more times, spraying watery bile over the bag and both of their suits. 

“It's okay. You'll be okay, kid,” Tony reassures. “I know you’re feeling sick, but you need to keep trying to drink something.” He offers the bottle again. 

“'M not done yet.” Peter bends over the bag and heaves drily. A trickle of bile runs into the receptacle. 

“There's nothing left in you,” Tony assures. “You're just nauseous because your blood sugar is tanking.”

“Hmm. Oww.” Peter wipes his mouth with a shaky hand and slumps back against the wall, his eyes fluttering shut. 

“Don't you pass out on me,” Tony commands, his tone tinged with worry. He doesn't want to leave Peter, but he knows that he has to look after Steve at some point. 

“Hold on, okay?” He picks back up the bottle of Coke and presses it into Peter's hand, making sure the boy is conscious. “Keep sipping, slowly.”

Peter gives a tiny nod, his eyes following Tony’s movements sluggishly. Tony makes sure that his protegè is stable in the corner and won't hit anything in case he does pass out, then goes to rouse the supersoldier. 

Steve is out cold, but at least he only fell against a leather chair and didn’t hit his head on anything hard. It’s tempting to just let him lie there and focus on the kid until the med team arrives, but Tony knows that the longer his enhanced metabolism stays without food, the more danger he is in. 

When a few attempts of calling his name and lightly shaking his shoulder don’t yield any results, Tony goes for the proverbial cold water approach, splashing handfuls of it onto the supersoldier’s face. Upon the third attempt, Steve rouses with a moan. 

“Hey, Sleeping Beauty.”

“Uff,” Steve groans, squinting. “I did something embarrassing, didn’t I?”

“Yup,” Tony confirms, popping the p. “I didn’t even know it was possible for you to pass out. Wish I had it on film.” 

He quickly strides over to Bruce’s locker and blows it open it with a small blast from his gauntlet that makes Steve flinch. Not strictly necessary, but Tony’s definitely at the end of his patience for today and blowing things up feels like an appropriate reaction. In the locker, he finds a yoga mat, a yo-yo, and a walkman ( _seriously,_ Bruce?), a couple of organic lemonades, and three equally healthy energy bars. Bingo.

Tony helps Steve sit up enough so that he can swallow some of the drink. He pushes it away after the second sip, clearly nauseous. 

“Don’t you dare puke on my suit,” Tony warns. 

“What, only the kid’s allowed to do that?” Steve chuckles weakly, nodding at the stains of bile on Tony’s armour. He takes a few deep breaths before trying another sip. “How long was I out?” 

“Couple of minutes. Medics are on their way.”

“Is Peter okay?” Steve asks, clearly guilty.

“Well…lucky for him, _someone_ was there to look after him instead of making him work harder.” Tony’s anger is slowly ebbing away, but he doesn’t regret when it comes out a little cross.

“Sorry,” Steve offers genuinely. He tries to sit up, but Tony pushes him back down, wincing when he jostles his injured arm in the process. 

“You stay put until we get medical assistance. Not gonna wake you up again.”

He drops one of the energy bars into Steve’s lap and then returns to check on Peter. The boy is still pale as a ghost and seems to have sort of melted into his corner, but at least he has finished the soft drink and is looking a bit more alert than he was before.

“Hey, you back with me?” Tony inquires, letting himself fall down on the floor in a not exactly elegant manner. 

The kid hums in agreement. “How’s Captain Rogers?” he asks, sounding concerned.

“Still alive, unfortunately.” 

“Hey, I heard that!” Steve calls out from the back room. Peter laughs lightly.

Tony opens one of the energy bars and breaks off a piece to offer to the kid. “So, care to explain why you disobeyed my direct order - suggestion - and came here?”

“I was gonna go home, but then I realised that May would be working overtime at the hospital because of the attack, and I lost my key somewhere in the battle, and then I thought I’d be more useful helping with the clean-up than sitting in front of my own door-”

“You’re telling me that Spider-Man needs a key to get into his own apartment?”

“Maybe?” Peter blinks up at him, all innocence and puppy eyes. 

“Don’t think for a minute that you’re getting away with that. We’re gonna have a talk, once you stop looking like you’re gonna faint any minute and I am out of danger of dying from a heart attack.” Tony clutches one hand to his chest dramatically. “Friday, when are the medics coming?”

“ETA four minutes and 30 seconds, sir.”

“Okay.” Tony should probably check on Steve, but his muscles vehemently protest any attempt to get up again. Instead, he shifts his position so that he is leaning against the wall next to Peter. The boy lets his head sink onto Tony’s metal-clad shoulder with a yawn. 

“Do you know what?” he mumbles. “Today I pulled Captain America out of a rubble pile…Wish I could tell that to my classmates.” 

That, finally, makes Tony grin. 

**Author's Note:**

> This was based on the following prompt: _Fighting off the latest alien invasion followed by an attack by Doom Bots was bad enough on the Avengers without two of their main players passing out for no apparent reason AKA when Cap and Spidey go 36 hours without eating while having overly heightened metabolisms._
> 
> It's also a fill for the Bad Things Happen Bingo square "Forgetting to eat."
> 
> If you liked the fic, leave a comment to make the author happy and consider following me on [tumblr](https://xxx-cat-xxx.tumblr.com/).


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